Out Of The Darkness

13.5 Million Project Sheds New Light On Chrysler Museum

February 19, 1989|By MARK ST. JOHN ERICKSON Staff Writer

NORFOLK — The Chrysler Museum will be a completely new place next Sunday when it opens the doors to its recently expanded and renovated building. For the first time in decades, the sprawling limestone structure will make sense. You'll be able to enter and visit the galleries without fear of losing your way.

You'll also be able to see an extraordinary collection of art whose greatness has always been stifled by wretched lighting and inadequate spaces.

"It's one of the last major collections to be discovered by the nation," says museum research curator Jeff Harrison. "The new building serves as the launching pad that makes that discovery possible."

These welcome changes are only some of the many benefits to come from the $13.5 million project. About 50,000 square feet of new space has been added to the facility. Another 40,000 square feet of the existing space has been completely redone.

That makes the Chrysler brand new, says museum director David W. Steadman. "Even though the outer walls and a lot of the inner walls are the same, this is not the same structure. It looks and feels like a new institution."

The first thing most visitors will notice is the new, symmetrical facade of the 147,000-square-foot Italianate structure. The hodge-podge profile of the original 1933 building and three later additions has been smoothed away and rearranged. In its place is a feeling of unity and order.

The centerpiece of the new plan is the revival of the original entrance off the Hague, a picturesque inlet off the Elizabeth River. Rather than the makeshift entries of the recent past - which shuffled visitors into the interior of the museum at odd, bewildering angles - the three large glass-faced archways here in the center of the building give an immediate sense of position. They also provide a dramatic, unfolding view into the heart of the museum.

The remodeled exterior now reflects the spirit of the master plan developed by the Norfolk architectural firm of Peebles & Ferguson nearly 60 years ago. "Two previous additions to the original structure had completely obscured the Chrysler's architectural identity," says project architect George E. Hartman of the award-winning firm of Hartman-Cox in Washington, D.C. "So we decided to pull all of the building's disparate parts together into a whole that reflects its original Florentine Renaissance character."

The new interior, similarly, owes a great deal to the original museum blueprint. Working closely with Steadman and the rest of the Chrysler staff, Hartman-Cox decided to resurrect a long-neglected palazzo-style courtyard and make it the center of the new floor plan.

Workmen unbricked the graceful arches filled decades ago, and the architects designed a soaring atrium roof of glass and wood. Large slabs of Indiana slate were laid down to make up the floor. The result is not only faithful to the original design but also makes for great architectural drama. The two-story, skylit space - punctuated at the east end by a monumental limestone staircase - is the first thing visitors see as they enter through the doorway arches.

The courtyard also provides - for virtually the first time - a continous point of reference as you move through the Chrysler's extensive series of galleries. Museum staffers say this will be one of the most noticeable improvements when the building reopens.

"One of the major complaints we had before was that people would simply get lost. They'd come in one of the makeshift entries, go into the galleries and be unable to find their way out," Harrison says.

"We wanted to make everything clear and simple. Our concern has always been for flow - not to let people get backed up, not to let them get trapped. We organized the galleries logically and visually around the courtyard. It keeps people feeling that they know where they are."

Indeed, the arches and windows of the courtyard provide frequent glimpses of the adjacent galleries as you walk around the museum. Curators have placed some of their most important works in these vantage places, hoping to give more exposure to the strengths of the 30,000-object collection.

The museum boasts one of the world's great assemblages of glass in the Chrysler Institute of Glass. It includes more than 8,000 works and is particularly rich in Tiffany, art nouveau, Sandwich glass and American art pieces. Selections from the exceptionally strong holdings in art nouveau furniture and decorative arts are housed in an adjacent gallery. Elsewhere on the first floor are displays of ancient Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Oriental, Islamic and African works, including notable collections of Chinese ceramics and pre-Columbian art.